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Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Sitting in the shade of a tree next to his thatched mud hut in in Kenya's Dakatcha Woodlands, Joshua Kahindi Pekeshe is bold.

"We are not going to let this land go even if it implies shedding blood," he informed the BBC.

"Land is really essential to us. We farm and get our livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead."

He is one of the numerous individuals opposed to the development of a large biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

It is an arid area and home to some 20,000 individuals along with internationally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious objectives

An Italian company has actually asked the authorities for authorization to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are abundant in oil that can be become bio-diesel.

This plant, initially from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats remain well away as it is toxic. The location affected is community land which is being held in trust by the local council.

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.

It has leased practically a million hectares in Africa; jatropha oil from a plantation in Senegal is being provided to the Swedish furniture seller Ikea. Other companies have rented land for the very same purpose in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana, as well as in India.

This growth has actually been spurred by the European Union, which has actually set ambitious objectives for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing its dependence on imported oil.

The 27 EU countries have signed up to a regulation which states that by 2020, 20% of energy should be from sustainable sources, external.

Why is Africa impacted?

Because it is hard to discover 50,000 hectares of offered land to grow a biofuel crop in, for example, the UK or Italy.

Why 'feed' an automobile?

But campaign groups have actually identified a few of the projects in Africa "land grabs" with for the typically voiceless African neighborhoods.

Some ask: "Why 'feed' an automobile in Europe when cravings at home is still a truth?"

"Our future is no longer in our hands. We have actually been told we have to move because they wish to plant jatropha curcas here," said 27-year-old Merciline Koi, a mom of 2, who included that there had actually been no deal of settlement for leaving her home in Dakatcha Woodlands.

Kenya Jetropha Energy Ltd says the negotiations are over - the government has okayed for a pilot task to start with 10,000 hectares and all it is awaiting now is the last documents.

The company says numerous long-term and thousands of seasonal jobs will be created and it rejects that anybody will be displaced by the job.

"We wish to secure your houses and the personal property. We will farm around your houses," Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd head Girardello Adriano informed the BBC from Milan.

"We are helping these individuals. They are extremely delighted for this job. No-one will be moved."

How green are biofuels?

According to the Kenyan government's environment watchdog, the offer has not yet been sealed. It refused the initial 50,000-hectare demand mentioning concerns over the influence on the environment and the sustainability of the task.

"We were recommending 1,000 hectares ... We have actually told them to justify if the number needs to alter which is why we have not approved the project already," said Benjamin Malwa Langwen, of the National Environment Management Authority (Nema).

However, there are now fresh calls for the Dakatcha project to be ditched as brand-new research study calls into question whether jatropha curcas is truly a greener option to oil.

The anti-poverty project group ActionAid and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) commissioned a report to investigate simply how green the jatropha curcas job in Kenya's Dakatcha woodlands would be.

The research study by the consultancy group North Energy, external found that jatropha would discharge in between 2.5 and 6 times more greenhouse gases when compared to nonrenewable fuel sources.

This is partially because big amounts of carbon are kept in the forests' plant life and soil however the plantation would suggest clearing the land of this greenery.

"The report shows that EU policies are foolish policies because they are not decreasing greenhouse gas emissions as the EU is declaring," said ActionAid's Chris Coxon.

"The proposed biofuel plantation will ravage the woodlands, driving the globally threatened Clarke's Weaver bird to extinction and denying countless local individuals of their incomes," said Helen Byron of the RSPB.

In reaction, the EU Commission safeguarded its energy policy as "the most extensive and advanced sustainability plan for biofuels throughout the world".

Unorthodox techniques

At the remote Mulunguni primary school, which lies within the Dakatcha Woodlands, several brand-new classrooms and pit latrines have actually just been built.

They were part moneyed by the European Union - the really organisation which is now implicated of pushing policies which locals fear might see the school shut down.

"My concern is the displacement of the community. It is bad to build a class and after that send out the pupils away," stated the deputy head Godfrey Karissa.

"Yes we need tasks. But a farm without a home is bad. You need to have a home before you go to your job."

There are plainly concerns on the ground that as soon as the lease is signed, the population will be at the mercy of a profit-driven business.

Ikea states it will not source jatropha oil from Kenya up until it can be sure that this will not add to the conversion of natural environments.

"This switch from nonrenewable fuel sources to renewable resource should never be at the expenditure of people or the environment," Ikea told the BBC in a declaration.

The woodlands are also a rich source of product for conventional medication.

If they feel let down by the federal government and the regional authorities, homeowners just may turn to unorthodox methods in a bid to keep the land.

"If all the senior citizens come together for one goal, then it is extremely simple to remove him with our medicines," said Barova Kiribai, a conventional therapist, describing the owner of the Italian biofuels company.

The fate of the individuals here is in the hands of the Kenyan government and Malindi's community council.

It is not surprising they are worried.

Kenya's political leaders do not have a great track record when it concerns working in the interests of the people.

ActionAid

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy

RSPB

Nema

Ikea